Employed

Well, the plan worked out more or less as expected.

No, I did not become a professional novelist. Yes, I did very much enjoy the 20 months spent writing and hanging out with my family. I self-published Escape from Devil's Canyon, will be self-publishing my novel Will this summer (the agent search was mildly interesting, but fruitless), wrote a draft of a fantasy novel, wrote a draft of a sequel to the kids' book, and am many chapters into an action/thriller novel.

And, even though the kids are bummed that I'm suddenly gone again during business hours and occasional business trips, I was there with them for probably as many hours as I had spent with them in their entire lives before the break. And Jody and I didn't drive each other crazy, either. Quite the opposite.

So, especially now that I'm gainfully employed once again, I can say with confidence that taking the sabbatical was a fantastic idea.

And, even though I'm bummed that I'm suddenly gone again during business hours and occasional business trips, I'm also excited to be back at work developing software. It's with a new company and new people and so far it's been great.

I'll be finishing and publishing all those drafts I mentioned earlier, too. It might go a little slower (which probably seems impossible to you), but I feel like I know how to do it now, so I'm excited to keep at it.